Day of the Blue Circle, 4th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Helios): Another day in paradise. I know many people who wouldn't want to live in Georgia for a number of reasons, from "too Red" to "too Black," and also including the weather ("too hot" or "too humid"). But friends, let me tell you, for much of April and May (as well as mid-September to mid-November), the weather here is ideal. Couldn't be more lovely. Days like today. 

I took advantage of the weather and walked a 9.6-mile Harrison. While I was walking I listened to a podcast conversation between singer-songwriter Bill Callahan (Smog) and actor Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos). I hadn't known that Imperioli was a practicing Buddhist, but he seemed to be sincere about his practice and not just a Hollywood, "I-once-read-an-article-about-it" kind of Buddhist. 

When Callahan brought up reincarnation, Imperioli said he's often asked about that but the thing is, Buddhist teachings hold that there is no inherent existence to the self. "So, what," Imperioli asked rhetorically, "is getting reincarnated?"

People often think of it as, he explained, as "Michael has a consciousness" - some might say, "soul." But it's actually the opposite. "It's like consciousness in this period of time had a Michael that attached itself somehow to it," he said, and it's consciousness that will go on and have another incarnation, not Michael.

"It's not my consciousness that's going on, it's consciousness got attached to these aggregates that make up this being in this life. So the way I've tried to see it is like consciousness is kind of like the fabric of the universe or something, and this physical kind of thing gets attached to it and another physical thing will get attached to it maybe in the future." 

That's a very good explanation by Imperioli. The way my teacher explained it to me, another way of looking at it is that the "physical thing" is kind of like a knot that forms in the fabric of the universe. We can distinguish between this knot and that knot, but it's really all just fabric and not two separate things. And knots can get untied and smoothed out from time to time and new ones arise, but it's still all fabric. And another word for that fabric is consciousness. 

I'd like to hear a conversation between Michael Imperioli and Michael Pollan. I'd walk a Harrison to hear them talk.